Lucas fully scales up their preneed program with Precoa

With fourteen locations and a legacy extending back 165 years, Lucas Funeral Homes has mastered the art of caring for families.

In large part, this is due to their staff. Each of the more than 90 full- and part-timers receives extensive training—in fact, owner Jimmy Lucas and operations manager Matt Morian created Lucas Learning, a training academy geared toward setting a consistent standard of care.

But preneed presented a challenge. The funeral home wanted to reach more families, but they needed a partner with the people and systems to handle every part of the preneed pipeline. They found that partner in Precoa.

Complacent Preneed Before Precoa

For years, Lucas Funeral Homes has seen the value of preneed and how greatly it benefits families.

“When we sit across from someone who has experienced a loss, at some point we’re going to open up a file, and it will either be full or it will be blank,” Jimmy said. “The emotional value of having a quality plan in place—there’s no comparison. It’s night and day.”

But Lucas’ preneed program never gained the momentum it needed. There were starts and stops, marketing was not very active, and they relied primarily on walk-in and call-in business.

“We were struggling to take preneed to that next level,” Jimmy said. “I really felt our program was complacent and that we could do better—I wanted to do better, and I wanted to find a partner who wanted to do better with me.”

So when Jimmy met with Precoa, his interest was piqued. The proposed increase in preneed volume impressed him, but he was also struck by Precoa’s values and its people. He believes in building lifelong relationships, and he trusted in his relationship with Precoa from the very beginning.

Complete V8 Support with Precoa

Once the partnership with Precoa got going, the across-the-board support changed everything.

Lucas was soon reaching more families through performance-driven marketing, the Funeral Planning Center started setting a high volume of quality appointments, and Advance Funeral Planners were writing more preneed. Lucas’ preneed volume more than doubled.

Precoa isn’t the four-cylinder approach. It’s the full V8. Jimmy Lucas Lucas Funeral Homes

“Precoa is out there in our community, and the amount of money they put into marketing on our behalf is pretty staggering,” Jimmy said. “Precoa isn’t the four-cylinder approach. It’s the full V8.”

And that only scratched the surface. Matt Morian also felt the support in day-to-day operations. There were teams of people he could reach out to whenever Lucas wanted to look more closely at a certain portion of their business.

“I feel like I have a gigantic team waiting for me on the other side of the country,” Matt said. “Since partnering with Precoa, we’ve seen astounding growth.”

Precoa Adds a Competitive Edge

Since partnering with Precoa over five years ago, Lucas continues to be excited to see what’s next. Precoa has delivered significant and sustained market share growth, and the partnership is lasting and authentic.

I haven’t seen another preneed company in the same league as Precoa. Jimmy Lucas Lucas Funeral Homes

“The complexity of what Precoa brings and the levels of support—no one compares,” Jimmy said. “I haven’t seen another preneed company in the same league as Precoa.”

When it comes down to it, Precoa feels like another piece of the family business.

“I believe there’s a direct correlation between growth in preneed and growth in at-need,” Jimmy said. “We want to keep moving forward, and Precoa has the ability to go bigger—not just anybody can do that.”